Keasbey Mattison Production Blog

Monday, November 17, 2014

Hello friends and followers! Joe here, director of By the Dashboard Light, to give you a little insight as to what we've been up to these days and what the status of the film is.

First off, I just finished my first attempt at a movie poster. We shot a handful of stills on set of our Promotional Featurette (more on that later in this post) and I decided to turn one of them into some promotional artwork.

Secondly, regarding the trailer… It's almost finished! Our Promotional Featurette is currently out for sound design with David Willis-Lorenz and should be wrapped in the upcoming week. As soon as it comes back I plan to launch our Indiegogo campaign and get our fundraising started.

The trailer will surely be posted here in our blog upon it's completion - and all over social media outlets.

Regarding the feature film, production has been delayed until October 2015. This has been done for several reasons. One, the film is meant to take place in the fall. I personally LOVE the fall, the colors, the smells, the crisp air and I know the film will look… and feel better with autumn as it's backdrop. Second, waiting nearly a full year to begin shooting will allow us nearly 12 months of pre-production and fundraising. This is key. When you're shooting a low-budget film, planning is EVERYTHING. Any filmmaker can attest to that. I really want to take my time perfecting a shooting schedule in order to be as efficient as possible. So with all of this in mind, it just made sense to push it back. The final film will be better for it.

A couple other fun notes to mention… Michael Volpicelli, an artist that produced a handful of portraits for the Promotional Trailer will be on the Steve Harvey show this Wednesday (11/19).

Joe Rose, the actor portraying Peter in Dashboard has recently starred in a short film that won the Jalopnik Auto Film Festival. It's called "Ignition" and its very good. Give it a watch by clicking here: Ignition

And finally, the star of By the Dashboard Light, Keith Chandler, has entered a short film that he directed, produced, wrote, edited and starred in - into the Tiny Film Festival with the Thriving Artists Circle. Check out his film here: Deadline Ep.2 "Hard Day's Night" and be sure to give it a vote. Voting closes on December 1st, 2014 - so please, check it out.

I'll check back with you all once the Dashboard Promotional Trailer is finished. It's hilarious and I think perfectly represents our talented cast and crew. Hope you are all well. Thanks for following our progress.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Hello friends, Joe here, director of the upcoming feature film "By the Dashboard Light" and subsequently director of the Dashboard Light "Promotional Featurette" as well.

For three weeks now we've been hard at work shooting a trailer that will launch on our Kickstarter/Indiegogo pages in mid-August / early-September. We have one day of shooting left and things are looking great.

Cinematographer Sergio Herrera has been shooting on Canon 7D's with a 14mm wide angle lens for our car interior two-shots. We've been using a mint 1976 Toyota Corolla, generously loaned from the Jeremias family.

The car, as cool as it looks, has been quite a challenge to shoot with. Our interior shots require the car to be off and the windows rolled up for the best sound. The weather has been in the mid 90's and this car turns into an oven. The camera is overheating (along with the talent) and we have to take frequent breaks for cool-downs. In addition, sound-man Dave Willis-Lorenz is crammed into the back seat... leaving the only one for me to direct... the hatch-back trunk. Lol.

The actors have been troopers. Keith Chandler who plays the part of main-character Roger, the driving instructor, has been spot on - take after take after take. Pair him up with acting veteran Joe Rose and the up-and-coming Blake Williams (who play two of Roger's students) and you have a powerhouse team of talent.

This past weekend feature the uber-talented Aly Miller as the young angsty teen Shannon and newcomer Stevenn Beck as the creepy, straight-laced instructor Verne. The acting duo was spot-on and the scene was HILARIOUS. Verne currently has my favorite line in the whole movie and he nailed it. (Keep an eye out... It's the last line in the trailer.)

Finally we had a shoot that didn't take place in a car. (which was like a vacation from the ordinary) Brian Kerrigan plays the part of Mr. Engle, Roger's boss. He slurped up Chinese Lo-Mein noodles inbetween his lines and was absolutely hilarious.

Next week, on our final day of shooting, we will be joined by Nora Hunmel (Orange is the New Black) and James Lyden (Boardwalk Empire & The Leftovers) as the bullied kid's parents

In all, things are moving along nicely. Were all looking forward to wrapping production next week and I personally am looking forward to watching all the footage as the trailer is cut.

Thanks to everyone for their help and support. The trailer will premiere on our Facebook page (and possibly even as a trailer in a local movie theater...shhh)

Saturday, April 26, 2014

It's been a busy month! I've been flipping through headshots and browsing Backstage.com everyday trying to fill the last couple roles that are still uncast.

I met with Sergio Herrera, the director of photography to start breaking for the script for a trailer shoot in June.

We met at Forest & Main Brewery and sat outside for a bit before the thunderstorm moved in Tuesday night.

Tomorrow, (4/27) is the first cast meeting in New York City. The primary cast is saying hello for the first time over drinks and dinner. Earlier in the day I'll be joining Keith Chandler and Aly Miller to take a couple photos.

Exciting times! The next blog post will introduce the cast! Stay tuned friends!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

After a long day of watching reels and audition-tapes, I'm pleased to announce that we've selected the actors to play the lead roles of Roger and Shannon in the film.

I'm not going to list any names just yet, but the selected actors will be getting a call tomorrow afternoon (3/17) to discuss these parts and be officially offered the roles.

In addition several other actors have been selected for the following roles:

Peter

Mrs. Corr

Felicia

Verne

Mr. Engle

Dr. Wellston

These actors will be contacted once our SAG paperwork has been processed and we can make official offers. Thank you to all who auditioned. If you were selected you will be contacted soon. We will not, however, be contacting those who were not selected.

There are still around 25-30 roles that still remain un-cast. To those who auditioned, you may be receiving an offer to play a part you didn't read for... So don't be discouraged if you don't get a call for a lead role.

It's been a busy week but I can say it's paid off. The faces of our film have been selected and for the first time we can actually SEE the future of this movie in front of us.

Exciting times are ahead friends. Stay tuned.

PS: The first episode of our Behind the Scenes Video Blog, "The Audition", will be airing soon! Keep an eye out for it!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the Dashboard auditions over the weekend. Everyone did a fantastic job!

Here's the talented Joe Rose reading with Jeff Soles for the part of Peter.

To those of you who are planning to submit an online audition read, a deadline has been set for you to do so.

We will be accepting auditions up to and no later than: FRIDAY, MARCH 14th by days end.

Here are a few guidelines for video submissions.

1. Keep it simple. We're not looking for production value. Use a phone or webcam and record your video. If you feel like sitting in a car, by all means do so. If you want to sit on your couch or bed, that's fine. We want to see you BECOME the character, not your directing or cinematographic skills.

2. Read with someone. Have a friend, family member, acting coach or partner read with you. Part of acting is reacting. We don't want to watch you talk to yourself. And please don't read all the parts yourself. This winds up looking ridiculous.

3. Upload Your Video. Email puts a limit on how large of a file you are allowed to send. We've gotten a couple emails saying "I can't send my video, it's too large, what can I do??" Upload it to YouTube or Vimeo and send the link. You can even make the video private or password protect it. It's free and easy.

4. Don't Send Multiple Character Reads in the Same Email. Our emails with attached videos get filed into folders marked with a characters name. If you're reading for more than one character, send more than one email. Put the Roger's together and the Phil's together.

5. Be Yourself. It's okay to get into character, but we're not looking for accents or impersonations. We don't care if you can do a great Heath Ledger Joker voice. This isn't a Batman movie. You don't even need to memorize the lines. We just want to see YOU.

Good luck to you. We've already received a number of incredible reads and are looking forward to watching yours.

Again, no videos will be accepted after our deadline. We will be making our first round of selections by mid-month. Those accepted will be contacted. (We will not be emailing those not selected as we have over 200 applicants. If you haven't heard from us and wish to know if you made the cut, feel free to email.)